Russ Carnahan campaign possibly target of fraud

ST. LOUIS — The Secret Service is investigating a fraud scheme that used bogus checks from the re-election campaign for Democratic Congressman Russ Carnahan of St. Louis.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Friday that 42 separate bogus checks were used to defraud the campaign out of $28,023.

Carnahan's campaign sent a letter Monday to the Federal Election Commission, notifying officials of the suspected fraud. Campaign treasurer Lawrence Giesing wrote that the campaign committee recently noticed unauthorized campaign checks deposited by a third party.

A spokeswoman for Carnahan says the campaign has already been reimbursed by its bank, PNC Bank.